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The advancement of antiviral therapy for hepatitis C, especially the encouraging results using triple therapy combining
telaprevir with PEG-interferon and ribavirin, suggest a need for a reliable index of fibrotic stage. Fibrosis is one of the main
predictors of the progression of chronic hepatitis C and its assessment by liver biopsy can determine therapy. However, biopsy
is an invasive procedure with several limitations including poor reflection of extent of fibrosis in the whole liver. The fibrogenic
stimulation index (FSI) measures the increase in target cell proliferation when stimulated by patient serum. The aim of this
study was to investigate the use of FSI in the evaluation of liver fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis C using the hepatic
stellate cell as the target. It was prospectively enrolled 60 patients with chronic hepatitis C undergoing routine liver biopsy prior
to consideration of treatment at our center. METAVIR liver fibrosis stages were assessed on biopsy specimens by a pathologist
and FSI and P-III-P was performed using patients? sera samples. Results indicate that FSI had a significant correlation with
METAVIR fibrosis stage. As well, serum P-III-P correlated with METAVIR fibrosis score. There was no correlation between FSI
and METAVIR activity grade of hepatic inflammation. In conclusion, non-invasive assessment of FSI appears as a reliable tool
to detect significant fibrosis or cirrhosis in patients with chronic hepatitis C. The FSI would be a useful index to select patients
for antifibrotic therapy and to assess improvement in fibrosis during and after antiviral therapy in HCV patients.
Biography
Theresa C Hemsworth-Peterson is currently a Full Professor of Medicine at Dalhousie University and a Biomedical Research Scientist at the QEII Health Sciences
Centre in Halifax. She received her Doctoral degree from Dalhousie University and Postdoctoral studies at the National Institutes of Health. She returned to
Dalhousie as the first Research Scholar of the Dalhousie Medical Research Foundation and later served as its Chair. Her research focusses on G.I., liver disease
and drug development and she holds several US patents. She has over 100 publications in top journals including Hepatology, Molecular Pharmacology and the
European Journal of Pharmacology.
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